Microsoft facing new WGA class action suit

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 5 Jul 2006 at 17:54

Microsoft is facing yet another class action suit for its use of its WGA counterfeit checking tool.

Filed 30 June at the US District Court, Western District of Washington, Seattle, the class action complaint by Engineered Process Controls, LLC, Univex, Inc., Edward Mifsuid, David DiDomizio, and Martin Sifuentes alleges violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Washington State's Consumer Protection Act, Washington's Computer Spyware Act as well as intentional misrepresentation and breach of good faith.

It accuses Microsoft of installing spyware as a critical security update on millions of computers across the US, including those belonging to government agencies, causing serious privacy and security problems.

It says the Windows Genuine Advantage software, which checks whether a system is running a genuine copy of Windows, is only a beta product and as such is liable to error, such as throwing up false positives. In addition, it reports back to Microsoft servers and has the potential to download further software and 'morph itself for whatever purpose Microsoft desires'.

The first suit targeting WGA simply wanted Microsoft to stop the practice, destroy the data it had collected and pay back any and all of its 'ill-gotten gains'. This latest is going for the jugular.

As well as stopping the WGA initiative in its tracks, it is seeking treble and punitive damages, and demands that Microsoft embark on a publicity campaign to make those affected aware of how to remove the software.

It also wants the WGA declared illegal and the terms of the EULA (end-user licence agreement) unconscionable and for Microsoft to work with the security industry so that security software is able find and remove instances of WGA - effectively labelling it malware and tarring Microsoft in the same stroke.